Labor as a Linchpin in Ecosystem Services Conservation: Appropriating Value from Collective Institutions?

ABSTRACT

The role of labor in value production for neoliberal conservation arrangements is a topic that has only recently begun to receive attention from scholars. Engaging with Marx’s labor theory of value, this article analyzes the interaction of a water fund Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) program with labor institutions in the Ecuadorian Andes. Data from participant observation, key actor interviews, and textual materials support an empirical case study of the model water fund, Fondo para la protección del agua – FONAG. Despite neoliberal discourse promoting financial and material incentives as the main driver of conservation action, this article demonstrates how PES agreements interact with pre-existing labor and land use regimes to generate and circulate value beyond the contractual arrangement between the target community and PES promoters. This article furthermore highlights how value produced from pre-existing labor institutions may constitute an overlooked component of “green grabbing” as it may be unacknowledged and susceptible to appropriation by international organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Value
• labor
• reciprocity
• water
• Andes
• green grabbing

Acknowledgements

The National Science Foundation DDRI grant (#1303138) supported initial fieldwork informing this article. I presented an early article draft at the 2018 AAG Annual Meeting, and I thank the session organizers and the discussant, Vijay Kolinjivadi, for their comments. I also thank the anonymous reviewers and especially thank all those in Ecuador who shared their experiences with me.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 http://www.fondosdeagua.org/en/the-water-funds/water-fund-maps/.

2 http://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/africa/stories-in-africa/water-funds-in-africa/.

3 Further examples in Joslin 2020.

4 FONAG representative interview.

5 FONAG representative interview.

6 Observations and resident interviews.

7 This land was subsequently designated as a protected area in 2014. http://www.prensa.quito.gob.ec/m/index.php?module=Noticias&func=news_user_view&id=11819&umt=Cerro%20Las%20Puntas%20es%20declarado%20%E1rea%20natural%20protegida.

8 Interviews with organization members.

9 FONAG employee interview.

10 IEDECA employee interview.

11 “Mountain Guardian” in Kichwa.

12 Urku kama interview and conversations with Ñukanchik Urku representatives.

13 IEDECA employee Interview.

14 Interview September 2013

15 Example from 2019: https://youtu.be/h5TF8TImn6Q.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRI) [grant number #BCS-1303138].